Mocha Tart

This recipe will impress everyone! Beware, it has caffeine content!
My favorite food magazine for years was Family Circle. This is one of the gems I collected from there. Perfect for grown-up events.

1 ready-made pie crust
2/3 cup semisweet choc chips
1 cup rough chopped walnuts
3 Tbl butter
3 Tbl instant espresso powder
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Whipped cream (recipe can be found on my other recipes)

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Fit pie crust into a 9 in removable-bottom tart pan.
• Sprinkle chocolate and walnuts evenly over crust. Set aside.
• Microwave butter in large glass bowl 40 or until melted. 
• Whisk in espresso powder.
• Beat in brown sugar, corn syrup, eggs, and vanilla.
• Pour into crust.
• Bake in lower third of oven for 35-40 min. Cool on rack to room temp. Remove outer rim and garnish with whipped cream before serving. 

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

A Holiday dessert to please two requests! My sister in law gave me this recipe from a very impressive HyVee (grocery chain) magazine that her mother brought her from Iowa. What better time to try it than Thanksgiving?













1 refrigerated or frozen pie crust
8 oz cream cheese, at room temp.
3/4 cup of sugar, divided
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbl rum or 1 Tbl vanilla
1 1/4 cups pumpkin from a can
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place refrigerated crust in a pie plate, fluting with fingers as shown or folded and pressed with thumb for edging. Or use my favorite brand, Marie Callendars frozen crust.

Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg, nutmeg and rum with a mixer until smooth. Spread evenly in prepared piecrust.

In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin, evap. milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, cinn, ginger, cloves and salt until thoroughly combined. Begin by pouring near the edge of the pie and slowly pour pumpkin mixture over cream cheese layer. Bake for 40 min. Remove crust shield and add steusel topping and bake for another 15-20 min, till crust is golden. Cool to room temperature. Chill and serve with Rum Whipped Cream. Serve that day or next. It's not as good after that.

Meanwhile, make streusel topping.

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbl flour

2 Tbl butter

1/2 cup pecan pieces
Combine brown sugar and flour in a small bowl. Cut in butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender (if you read my blog, you'll want to buy one!) until mixture resembles wet sand. Stir in pecans.
Rum Whipped Cream:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbl sugar
1 tsp rum or vanilla

Beat with a mixer on high until soft peaks form.

Cooking tips:

• Serve that day or next. It's not as good after that.
• Make your own crust shield with aluminum foil. Fold the foil in half and cut a half circle out. Gently place over pie. 
• Chill your glass or metal bowl before you beat the whip cream and it will go faster. 
• Don't add until it's time to serve.

Cranberry Orange Scones

One of my favorite flavor pairings is cranberries and oranges, especially in muffins or scones. The main problem Americans have with scones is that they are too dry for our liking. Some people try to substitute muffin mix for the dough, but it just doesn't have the same texture. I have tried a couple of different recipes, and find that this one was a big hit! 

I am a part of a Jane Austen Movie club, and this month we had a tea party while watching A&E's Pride and Prejudice. Since food is such a social thing, every month we pick a recipe to make together before hand so people can share cooking tips. This was the recipe of the month. 

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cloves
2 tbsp. sugar
Zest of an orange
1/2 cup Craisins or golden raisins, chopped
1 stick of cold butter
2/3 cup buttermilk (plus extra for brushing)
coarse sugar for sprinkling

Whipped Cream (recipe at the end)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

• Mix all the dry ingredients together. 
• Cut the cold butter into small cubes 1/4-1/2 inch. With a pastry blender or stand mixer, mix until the butter is just coated with flour, leaving chunks the size of dimes. 
• Stir in the Craisins and the zest. 
• Stir in 2/3 cup buttermilk and mix for about 30 seconds, or just until the liquid is absorbed. (The batter will begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl). 
• Using clean hands, scrape the dough down and form it into a ball. Place the ball on a baking stone, baking sheet lined with parchment paper, a silicone baking sheet or a buttered sheet of wax paper. 
• Pat the ball into a flattened circle 1 inch thick at the center, slightly thinner around the edges. Divide the circle into eight wedges and separate the wedges out leaving a 1/2-inch space between them.
• Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk or an egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve warm with butter, jam, whipped cream or clotted cream. The tops of the scones may be lightly dusted with confectioners sugar, if desired.

Cooking Tips:

• Use the Pampered Chef Food Chopper to quickly and cleanly chop the cranberries.
• Put your bowl in the sink when whipping the cream to make clean up easier. 
• Don't knead your dough! The chunks of butter, when melted, create air pockets that make the scones flaky. 
• When zesting an orange, don't get the white. If using a zester, do short strokes to get smaller pieces. 
• Invest in a zester and pastry brush. You can get them at Dollar Tree or the grocery and they make life easier!
• Substitute Chocolate Chips for the cranberries. Get creative! Raisins, dates, poppyseed, you name it!

Whipped Cream

1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 Tablespoon of juice from orange (used earlier for zest)

Beat on high for 5 minutes or so until soft peaks form. If you under beat, it will be runny. If you over beat, it will turn to butter. When it's getting close, turn off the mixer and test the peaks every minute. 

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Recipe and samples complements of Baylee Steele, roommate extraodinaire.

I came home one day in December to these delightful treats that Baylee and her sister Leslie were working on. Definitely worth posting! This is very similar to my Strawberry Tarts in an earlier post. Get creative, make your own "food art!"

Ingredients:

Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

2 pkgs Cream Cheese, softened

Sugar

1 tsp Almond extract

1 tsp Vanilla

2 tsp Lemon Juice

2-4 Tablespoons Milk

Various fruits, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, peaches, mango, blackberries, etc

Start with Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, roll it out thin, about a 1/4 in.  By placing a piece of wax paper on the counter and another on top of the dough, you eliminate messes and the problem of dough sticking to the rolling pin. Until I got a feel for thicknesses, I used a ruler to measure in a couple of spots and then you can feel with your hand if it's even. 

Cut large circles out with a round cutter or a large-mouthed glass. 

Check the package directions for oven temperature, but cut the cooking time in half. You want them to be done, but not turn brown.

Meanwhile, to soften cream cheese, leave out for several hours. If it's not quite there by the time you're ready, you can microwave it for 30 seconds. Be careful, it will pop or if heated too long will get chunky. 

Add sugar, lemon juice, flavorings and milk. Mix well. Wash, slice, drain, dry fruit, whatever it needs!

Once cookies are cooled, spread 2 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture then top with fruit. 

Serve that day. They are hard to store and the fruits will get juicy and the cookies soggy. If traveling, spread cream cheese ahead of time, stacking fillings together, then add fruit at arrival.
Thank you to the Steele girls for this inspiration!

Lemon Blueberry Trifle

This dessert is light in calories and in taste, perfect for a hot summer's day or after a heavy meal.

Every time I make a trifle, I think of that episode of Friends where Rachel tries to make one but the pages were stuck together in her cookbook. . . "Bananas, whipped cream, beef sauteed with peas and onions. . . "

1 Sara Lee Pound cake, partially thawed
1 reg. carton of Cool Whip
1 can Blueberry Pie filling
1 box of lemon pudding
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Slice cake in 1 inch squares, place 1/2 in bottom of dish. Mix pudding according to directions, pour 1/2 on top of cake. Do not stir. Spoon 1/2 of blueberries on top, making sure some are against glass for effect. Repeat steps. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Right before serving, top with almonds.

Tips:
The basis for a trifle is usually a cake cut in squares, a pudding, fruit/preserves, whipped cream and sometimes nuts. There are so many variations, you can easily make this into your favorite dessert!

Toast almonds by placing in single layer on a cookie sheet in the oven for 10-15 min on 350 degrees. Warning, they go from perfect to burned in 30 seconds, so keep an eye and nose out for them. Crack the oven open while toasting, and as soon as you can smell them, check on them. They should be just turning brown. Set aside to cool.

A trifle dish is a glass bowl with straight sides and a stand. A glass bowl will easily substitute. 

This dish is not very good the next day, so encourage people to eat seconds!

Pampered Chef makes an excellent trifle dish that comes with a lid and a removable base for ease of transportation.

Use your creativity, and enjoy!

Photos by Rhema Faith Photography

Peach Cobbler

This was one of my childhood favorites, and whenever I eat it, it takes me back to the days of my mother's soft caresses and a cozy home filled with wonderful smells.

When I got old enough to start baking, I asked my mom for the recipe. After she told me how easy it was, I remember thinking, "if it's that simple, why didn't you make it more often?"

2 large cans of peaches in heavy syrup

1 box of yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite)

1 stick of butter, room temp

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 glass pan, dump peaches in. In a bowl, cut butter into cake mix until pieces are the size of dimes. This is what a pastry cutter is for, but since most people don't have one, you can use 2 knives or a fork. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the peaches, don't press or stir. Bake for 30-40 min or until top is golden brown. 

Nothing compliments this better than Breyers vanilla ice cream and a cup of coffee!

Thanks, Mom, for the recipe and the memories.

Easy as Pie!

Baking not your thing? In a rush? Want some comfort food? I've got a solution: Cherry Pie!

Cherry Pie has a special place in my heart because of my Great-Aunt Pat. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee sharing a home with my grandparents, my great-grandparents lived next door, my grandpa's mama lived 10 min away, and my great-aunt and her son lived two blocks away.

When I was really little, I remember almost every night for dinner family would drop by and bring a dish to share. One thing I liked most was Pat's Cherry Cobbler (not really a cobbler, but we called it that). Once she found out how much I enjoyed it, she would bring it over every year on my birthday, and other times just as a treat. The crust was home-made, and peeking through the lattice-top, the bright-red cherries always had the perfect amount of sweetness to them.

When I was a teenager, I asked Pat what her recipe was. She laughed and told me it was cherry pie filling out of a can! I couldn't believe that all the years I thought she spent hours making "Anna Margaret's Cobbler" that it was partially store-bought! I do have to give her credit for making a delicious crust, though. Since then I have followed in her footsteps, and as she told me, "why make it when they sell it for cheaper and it tastes better." So, adding to that, I buy store-bought pie crust as well.

Here's how it goes:

1 large can of Cherry Pie filling (not canned cherries)

1 pie crust, either frozen Pet Ritz/Marie Callenders, or Pillsbury refrigerated

Dump can into the crust and bake on 325 until it's warm and bubbly and the crust is golden brown, at least 45 min. Place on a cookie sheet to catch overflow. Use a pie crust shield until the last 15 min. If desired, you can cut another crust into strips and make a lattice for the top. Google it. hee hee :)

Pie Crust Shield, what's that?

This is a metal circle that covers the crust but not the top of the pie while it bakes long times to prevent burning. You can buy them. . . but no need! I have invented an easier method: aluminum foil.

Take one piece as large as your pie, fold it in half, and cut a half circle out of the middle. Open it up and lightly place it on top. If this doesn't fit, then crimp the middle until it's the right size. Whal-la!